Weapons of War
…has been confirmed. Effective immediately, entry into any area outside the authorized zones is strictly prohibited.
The morning atmosphere was thoroughly unsettled.
Announcements kept looping through the building, inside and out. Beyond the window, men and women in suits were stringing safety cordons along the academy thoroughfare, and beyond those lines, guards in full plate armor prowled the grounds. They moved in packs of dozens, swarming remote buildings and garden corners like a hive of bees.
Crrrack—
They drove their spears into the earth without the slightest regard for the ornamental trees they toppled in the process.
I sipped my morning coffee at a leisurely pace and watched the unseasonable parade unfold.
Once again, we would like to inform you—
"Oh, for crying out loud. Another announcement. Just shut it off already."
I had no idea why everything had to be this loud. No classes today, and I couldn't even sleep in. What a joke.
I pulled a Party Bear out of the gate, slapped it firmly over the speaker, and went back to enjoying my peace.
"Byuu (damn)."
The Party Bear's body muffled the speaker into a dull, distant murmur, and my mood brightened instantly. That particular pleasure of forcibly silencing something noisy is a universal human experience.
"Koala, you're up early."
A little while later, Elaine showed up.
I'd been planning to finish my coffee and start crafting a Wood Soldier… I fixed her with a sour look, annoyed at the interruption.
But for once, Elaine spoke with a faintly angry edge in her voice.
"Did you really have to?"
"Have to what."
"I get that you want to be left alone, but there's been a string of murders at the academy. There's a limit to how much you can act like the rest of the world doesn't exist."
People dying was news to me. I asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Murders?"
"What do you mean, 'murders'? They've been broadcasting about it all morning."
Her eyes drifted to the speaker of their own accord—and she froze as if her system had lagged out.
A miniature Party Bear was draped over the speaker, belly-first, smothering it completely.
"Don't tell me…"
I met her stare without a shred of shame.
"It was yapping so loud first thing in the morning, so I shut it up."
Elaine let out a hollow laugh.
"Wow. You ruthless little monster. I genuinely have no words. What about the text alerts?"
"Obviously didn't check those either."
I only used my phone when I needed something. Incoming messages existed because the outside world needed me—not the other way around. By that logic, the sender ought to be grateful I even looked, bowing in thanks and everything.
Elaine narrowed her eyes to slits.
"So I should bow to you?"
"No, no. Just a figure of speech. And sorry for glaring at you earlier. I honestly had no idea something like that had happened."
"…"
After a brief silence, Elaine's expression softened a little.
"Mind if I sit?"
"Sure. Want something to drink?"
"Just brew me some tea."
"What kind?"
I served Elaine her tea and sat across from her. With nothing particular to say, I casually asked why she'd come by, and she explained that today, of all days, she needed somewhere quiet. Her room was full of her own replicas, which made it impossible to collect her thoughts.
…Replicas, huh. So she was at least self-aware about that.
"…Sorry. For snapping at you."
Elaine had calmed down enough to apologize. Her shoulders slumped as she cradled the teacup. The usual beagle energy was nowhere to be found—she looked more like an abandoned golden retriever.
But I understood her well enough. Venting personal feelings onto other people is generally not a great habit, but this time was an exception. Watching your own home fall apart is hard for anyone to stomach.
I sipped my coffee and answered.
"It'd be weirder if you weren't angry."
"Hm?"
"You're a member of the magic house that built this place. Of course you'd be on edge when something like a fatal incident happens. And as your friend, I'm supposed to be the one comforting you."
Playing along to that extent was only fair. Ordinarily she was the one always doing things for me, never asking for anything in return.
Elaine's eyes wavered.
"Koala."
"Yeah?"
"…Our Koala actually has human emotions! How can you be this precious? C'mere, let me pet you."
"Ah—no hugging!"
By the time I'd managed to peel the beagle girl off me, the sun was high overhead.
At any rate, hunger was starting to set in, so we ordered room service from the dorm. I got a pilaf set with salad and pasta on the side; Elaine ordered a medium steak set.
I poked at my cabbage with a fork and asked,
"So who's the last survivor? They're critically injured—think they'll make it?"
Elaine's appetite vanished on the spot.
"…"
I realized the topic had been a spectacularly bad choice and scrambled to apologize.
"S-sorry. I won't ask. Just eat."
"Koala."
"…Yeah."
"You can't die, okay?"
I tilted my head at the sudden remark.
"What are you talking about? I can't die?"
Elaine offered no real explanation.
"Just don't die. People go in an instant. Especially someone like you…"
"Me? What about me?"
The corner of her mouth curled up in a mischievous little smirk.
"Someone as argumentative as you could get beaten to death anywhere. The type who'd stand in front of a serial killer and go, 'Why are you murdering innocent people?' and catch a knife for it… tsk tsk."
"Hey, why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? You wanna die?"
And here I'd thought someone important had actually died.
I was a little annoyed, but at least Elaine's mood seemed to have bounced back, so that was something. We bickered like always, laughed it off, and followed the meal with a generous round of dessert.
Rubbing our full bellies, we watched the chaos outside. Having gotten a rough picture of the situation over lunch, I was starting to understand their urgency.
"So that's why they're tearing everything apart? Looking for more weird magic circles?"
"Yeah. If something's just carved into a surface, detection magic won't pick it up."
That checked out. A magic circle drawn on an ordinary concrete wall or floor was nothing more than a doodle on a rock. Only once you splashed it with mana-infused blood would the circle activate—and only then would detection magic catch it.
The circles at the scene had been thick with residual mana from multiple people's blood, but there were almost certainly others that had been carved and left unused. Sacrificial rites weren't the kind of thing you only performed in one place.
Then Elaine spoke, her voice strangely detached.
"She was someone who worked at our estate for a while. The critically injured woman."
"…!"
"She made so many mistakes that the butler fired her, but I suggested she try working at the academy instead. That's how she ended up here."
Apparently most of the academy staff arrived through connections like that—people too specialized to write off as ordinary civilians, yet not quite polished enough to serve as house experts.
The woman currently in intensive care had been a gardener's assistant.
Elaine lowered her head and pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Ah—how did I not see it. That stupid unused lot. If I'd just spent a little more money and kept it properly maintained, none of this would have happened."
"…"
A "little" money? Unlikely.
The academy was enormous. Maintaining the buildings already in use must have cost an astronomical sum—keeping every out-of-sight corner pristine on top of that was probably unrealistic.
The urge to argue rose all the way to my throat, but I forced it back down. Starting a logic battle here would make me a genuine failure as a human being.
"I-it's not your fault, Elaine."
I offered the awkward comfort, and Elaine replied,
"Of course it's not my fault."
Huh?
"But I still have to carry the guilt. As a member of a great house, and as the person who brought her into harm's way, I have to take responsibility."
"Why you? It has nothing to do with you."
"Because that's what it means to be a noble. And a person."
A way of thinking I genuinely could not understand.
Had Elaine summoned that woman here to die? No. She'd suggested a way for her to make a living, and the woman had accepted. Besides, she was only on the edge of death—she wasn't dead yet.
…
Watching Elaine tear up, I felt something start to twist sour in my chest.
Elaine had only shown the world a kindness. Why did she have to be sad? Why did she have to suffer under guilt? She deserved a medal, not this.
This was wrong.
No matter how I looked at it, this was wrong.
If you were kind, you were supposed to be happy. Fortune was supposed to find you. So why had misfortune come knocking instead?
…I was going to need somewhere to put this feeling.
"Hey, Elaine."
"Yeah?"
"…"
"Any word on why she was abducted? Did she do something wrong?"
Elaine shook her head.
"I think she was taken just because of her work history at our estate. The culprit is from a fallen house."
Apparently it had been a direct-line ancestor of the Ispellen family who had executed the culprit's forebears. So this had been revenge born of a grudge.
…Bingo. They're finished.
No one in this world is without circumstances or grievances. Even people carrying the deepest rage usually try not to drag uninvolved parties into it. And we call that "normal."
So why couldn't that culprit manage to be normal?
Everyone else does it. Why couldn't they?
There was no excuse for this.
From here on out, the cultists had no right to complain about whatever performance art came their way.
It was time for the Toy Soldiers to sortie in earnest.
"Anyway, I think it hit harder because she was the head of her household. Her husband's sick and the kids are still little, so if she dies like this… Pecia?"
Elaine, mid-self-deprecating complaint, suddenly swallowed her breath.
Something chilling radiated from Pecia's frozen face. She was staring through the table as if she meant to bore a hole in it. Her skin was pale past white into bloodless, and she sat so still she might as well have been a mannequin.
Even her eyes looked wrong. When Elaine looked closer, the pupils had stretched into vertical slits—like a snake's.
…!
For a second she thought she'd imagined it and rubbed her eyes.
"Beeee…"
At that moment, the teddy bear stuck to the wall speaker frantically flapped its little hands. It dropped to the floor and bolted for the bathroom at full speed.
Elaine's face went blank with disbelief.
Can a golem even feel fear? That's… weird.
"Elaine."
Pecia's voice was ice-cold. The hair on Elaine's arms stood on end.
"Y-yeah?"
"It's time to go."
Elaine swallowed hard.
"Go… where?"
Pecia reached for a box near the tea table, tore open the packaging, and pulled out a brown wooden club about the thickness of a forearm. She smiled with deep satisfaction.
"…"
Elaine hesitated, then offered an apology.
"I won't call you Koala anymore. You've been holding that in this whole time, huh?"
"…?"
She was being told to leave because there was work to do. Why the completely random apology?
Pecia blinked. Elaine tilted her head.
A magical beast and a human—still a long way from understanding each other.